Weaving pile fabric



June 14, 1938.

| F. HARVEY Er AL WEAVING' FILE FABRIC Filed Nov. 7, 1934' or in Patented June 14, 1938 PATENT OFFICE WEAVING PILE FABRIC lsaac Fred Harvey, Menston-in-Wharfedale, and Edgar 'llrueman Harvey, Bradford, England Application November '7, .1934, Serial No. 751,932 lin Great Britain November 9, 1933 3 Claims.

This invention relates to the production of loop or (as it is called in thetrade) uncut pile fabric. 'The loops in fabric of this kind have hitherto usually been produced as the result of the insertion of wires which extend in the weft direction in the shed during the process of Weaving, these wires being subsequently withdrawn sideways. This has necessitated the construction of special looms for the purpose which are not only considerably more costly than ordinary looms but also take up much more room. It is the object of the present invention to enable 100p fabric to be produced on a loom of less costly and more compact construction than these wire looms.

According to the present invention, the pile loops are formed as the result of the weaving into the fabric of the free-ended portions of freeended flexible threads of cat-gut, silk-gut, or other gut which extend over the ground structure in the direction of the Warp, the fabric being' drawn off the free ends of these threads as it is taken up. In using the expression extending over the ground structure, we do not neceswear and tear to which they are subjected to enable them to hold out for a reasonable length of time while they are at the same time sufficiently flexible and not too springy. In addition they do not suffer unduly from the eifects of fatigue stressesand they are kind to the materialbein-g woven. Furthermore, they are not too soft while yet not too hard, and their gen- 'eral nature is such that when the free end portions of the free-ended threads of gut are woven into the fabric in the manner described, the fab-- ric is able to obtain a hold on these threads, which while sufficient to enable it to exert the required tension on them is not too fierce to prevent the fabric from being readily drawn off them without damaging them and this hold is obtained Without it being necessary to weave the free-ended gut threads into it to a distance which is either inconveniently short or inconveniently great. Moreover, the gut threads present a The threads in which the loops are actually madehereinafter called the pile threads extend in the direction of the warp, and the pile loops are then formed as the result of the introduction of a special pick of Weft, which may be called the loop pick. This pick passes over thefre'e-ended gut threads and rests thereon, the pile threads being looped over the loop pick, the tops of the loops being supported thereby so as to prevent the loops being drawn down to the ground structure under the tension to which the pile threads are subjected. It will be understood that it is not necessary to provide a specially constructedloom for producing loop fabric in accordance with this invention but that an ordinary loom may readily be employed with comparatively minor additions which do not materially increase its size. An ordinary loom fitted with outside treadles, jack rods, spring undermotion, and negative let-off motion, such as has been in general use for many years for weaving a large variety of cloths other than loop pile fabric, may be employed; also other types of loom may be easily adapted for carrying out this in vention, such" as existing pile fabric looms of any 5 type; including double plush looms, single shuttle looms, or wire looms, heavy coating looms, or rug looms. These looms may be fitted with a, Jacquard, Dobby, mixing shuttle boxes of circular, rising and falling or pick-at-will type, according to the design of fabric required.

The provision of one form of loom with freeended gut threads in accordance with the invention will now be described, and then the manner in which the fabric is formed indicated. The loom is diagrammatically illustrated in side elevation in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing, while Figure 2 is a diagrammatic sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of the fabric at the point at which it is being drawn off the freethen the pile threads would be run off bobbins fitted on a creel in the usual manner, instead of from a beam 4 as just described. The pile threads 5 are drawn through separate healds 5'. The flexible free-ended threads 6 which, according to the invention, are of gut are threaded through other healds 6', there being, for example, one of these threads to every dent in the reed, that is to say, one length of thread to every set or gait of warp threads. All these free-ended gut threads 6 are held at the back of the loom behind the healds in afixed transverse clamp 7. They are sufficiently long to extend forwards beyond the fell of the cloth or the point of beatup of the going part. They are held here by reason of the fact that they are woven for part of their length into the fabric. 4 or 5 inches would in ordinary cases be a suitable length for the woven-in length of the free-ended gut threads. In the operation of the loom the following takes place:-

The shuttle 3 throws weft and interlaces the warp thread 2 to form the backing or ground structure of the fabric. The manner in which this interlacing is effected may, of course, be varied according to the type of backing required.

The healds 6' and 5 containing the free-ended gut threads 6 and the pile threads 5 are controlled in such a manner that the pile threads 5 interlace with the weft and the ground warp threads 2. The free-ended gut threads 6 are floating in between the pick of weft 8 and the backing or ground structure of the fabric. Each time a row of loops is required on the face of the fabric, all the threads, including the free-ended gut threads 8, are so positioned that the loop pick 8, when shot across the warp, passes over all of them except the pile threads 5 which are at that moment raised with the result that this pick of weft 8 passes under and supports the tops of the loops which are then formed in the pile threads 5 and prevents them being pulled into the main structure at the base of the cloth, as this pick of weft 8 is itself held up by the freeended gut threads 6. The free-ended gut threads .6 do not interlace with any other threads except to separate the loop picks from the ground structure by a distance equal to the sum of the diameters of the free-ended thread and the loop pick. When the shed is changed in preparation for wefting the ground structure threads, and the going part has beaten-up, a rib is formed across the piece where the loop pick resting on the freeended gut threads is holding up the pile threads. When several of these ribs have been woven, the fabric passes away off the ends of the stationary free-ended gut threads 6, being taken up on the roller 9, and the ribs become loops, as the loop pick 8 is no longer supported by the free-ended gut threads but falls down into the base of the cloth, having served its main purpose in assisting those threads to form the loops.

It will be understood that the woven-in ends of the flexible free-ended gut threads remain flat in the fabric structure. Moreover, in the arrangement described the free-ended gut threads are able to give a little when the weft is beaten-up. This arrangement also has the advantage of allowing the loom to be pulled back readily if a fault is found to have developed in the fabric. If this is done a bar is preferably laid transversely across the free-ended gut threads behind the healds so as to weight them and keep them taut.

The bar is lifted again by these threads when they are pulled forward on re-starting the loom and the bar may then be removed. A bar may be incorporated with the loom for this purpose and .so supported that it can be lowered onto or raised from the threads by moving a lever. The flexible'free-ended gut threads employed are kind tothe yarn and the method and loom according latter case by moving the clamp 1 forward bodily.

It will be clear that various diameters of freeended gut thread could be introduced in a predetermined order to produce different heights of loop and consequently a pattern on the fabric. Moreover, loop pile fabric produced in accordance with the invention may be cropped to give a cut pile fabric over the whole or part of its surface in accordance with definite designs.

Further, it will be understood that the rows of loops may be made discontinuous by suitable means such as a Jacquard or Dobby, also that the free-ended gut threads may be distributed over the reed in such spacing or arrangement as may bedesired.

In the particular example of loom above described and illustrated in Figure 1, the free-ended threads are raised and lowered to permit the insertion of the ground and loop picks respectively. 'In such a case the same shuttle which throws the weft for the ground structure can be used to throw the loop pick.

In a case in which the shed between the freeended gut threads and the other warp threads. is

formed without raising or depressing the freepicks or by varying the colours of the loop picks in a predetermined manner, or by adoptingboth these expedients.

' It will be clear also that two pieces of fabric might be woven with a single set of free-ended gut threads on the same loom and at the same time according to the invention by. weaving them so that they are face to face with the free-ended gut threads between them if use is made of two shuttles or of means for altering the level of the shuttle; in either case the free-ended threads could remain stationary.

It is obvious also that other modifications may be made in the example given without departing from the principle of our invention as above described.

We claim:

1. In a loom for the production of pile fabric having a ground formed of warp and weft threads and a top structure of loop pile threads extending in the direction of the warp and having auxiliary weft threads passing therethrough, means to temporarily support and maintain the loops in raised position during the weaving operation, comprising free-ended threads of gut anchored at their rear ends and extending in the direction of the warp over the ground. structure and'under'the auxiliary Weft threads, whereby the threads of the fabric slide easily over the smooth surface of the gut and the firm texture of the ut threads overlying auxiliary weft threads.

2. In a loom for weaving pile fabric having a ground structure of warp and weft threads and a top structure embodying loop pile threads, means forming a temporary support for the pile loops during the weaving of the fabric, comprising threads of gut anchored at the rear of the loom and extending forwardly over the ground structure in the direction of the warp, said gut threads being pliant, thus facilitating easy operation of the shed movements and pull back operation, having sufficient stiffness to facilitate threading in the loom, and having a tough smooth surface resistant to wear and indentation of the surface and having a non-frayable homogeneous texture.

3. In a loom for the production of pile fabric having a ground structure of warp and weft threads and a top structure embodying pile loops, means for temporarily supporting said loops in the pile threads during the weaving operation, comprising flexible gut threads secured at their .rear ends and having their free-forward ends extending above the ground structure and under the top structure in the direction of the warp, to a point beyond the beat-up of the loom, said threads of gut having the characteristics that they are stiff, yet pliant, and are provided with a smooth, tough, non-frayable surface resistant to wear and indentation of the surface, and are capable of ready withdrawal from the woven fabric.

ISAAC FRED HARVEY.

EDGAR TRUEMAN HARVEY. 

